Winter OneShots
by Crumpled Piece Of Paper
Summary: Year Three: Nostalgia: Yami no Yuugi has a love/hate relationship with winter. Late! Sorry!
1. Year One: Part 1

**CPOP's One-Shot Winter Tradition**

**Year One:** The Five Spastic Days of Christmas; A Spazzerific two-shot!

**Summary:** When Jou looks over some very familiar carol lyrics, he takes things a bit too literally. What trouble will this cause for Yami no Bakura? All that and a partridge in a pear tree.  
**Ship/Pairing:** Spazzshipping/Yami no Bakura **x** Jounouchi Katsuya  
**Rating:** PG-13 K+  
**Extra:** I know, I know, Christmas has come and gone, but I couldn't find the time to get this posted earlier. Just be thankful it's going up in December, frankly, I wouldn't have been surprised if I hadn't posted this until January or even February…or…maybe not at all. Anyways. This is particular two-shot is more like a gift to koorimeprincess12, as she was the one who got me into it in the first place, and picked the pairing for this plot (though it's not even the same plot as the one I suggested to her and…well, never mind). I hope she and everyone else enjoys this one-shot and all the others to come after it! Oh! And I'm sorry about the length…but no worries, I'm going to split it into two parts after all. :3  
**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ….if I did, you'd know.

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"What the hell kind of song is this?" 

"It's a Christmas carol, Katsuya!"

"…It makes no sense at all. Who would _want_ any of those things? It's totally unrealistic."

Shizuka gave her noncompliant brother a flat stare, "Katsuya…it's just a song, okay?"

"Meh," The blonde huffed, glaring at the lyrics of the carol, "Whatever."

Shizuka sighed and got up from the sofa, taking the other copies of the carol with her. She rolled her soft hazel eyes; sometimes her oniisan took things a bit too literally… Shizuka set the pile of carol lyrics on their kitchen counter. She'd be handing them out to her friends later. They were cute lyrics, the edges of the paper decorated in holiday-esqe designs, a penguin at the top in a Santa-hat and ribbon ringing a bell.

Shizuka picked up one of the copies and looked it over herself, her brow furrowing as she read. …Now that Katsuya had mentioned it…What on earth did the receiver of these gifts do with all of them? They all seemed fairly useless… "Huh…A partridge in a pear tree?" read Shizuka, quirking a brow. Odd…All of them were, except the five golden rings. Now _there_ was a present she wouldn't mind getting off this 'gift list' from the funny farm. Shizuka placed the paper back with its mates and shrugged, heading off down the hallway to the room she was staying in while visiting her older brother.

Jounouchi had, after Shizuka had so kindly offered up her spot on the couch, spread his jean-clad legs across the entire thing, taking up as much room as possible, so that if before mentioned sibling decided to return, she'd have no where to sit. A perfect strategy.

He really had nothing better to do, apparently. Blowing the poofy blonde bangs out of his eyes, Jounouchi sighed in a bored manner. He was going to die for sure this week. Last time at least there'd been a bit of chaos to keep things lively…but this year's waiting-week was, so far, a dud. None of the yamis, it seemed, were quite as devious as last holiday season. Jounouchi had to chuckle at the funny memory.

The week before Christmas was a day Jounouchi and friends had come to treat as some sort of holiday-vacation week…in its own right. They didn't get school off… And none of them really hung out together this week, unless it was to get some seriously last-minute shopping in or decorations hung. No, their little entourage would spend probably the next four days together afterwards, so this week the week before Christmas, served as a separation period.

However, last year, with just one day of the week left, the dark sides of the sennen-chosen decided to spice things up a bit. After robbing the nearby drugstore of all its eggnog, the three had proceeded onto the roof of Ryou's apartment, where they happily spent the entire day chugging carton after carton in a holiday-themed drinking game.

Needless to say, by the time the hikaris had located their askew darks, the yamis were a bit loopy. Now there was a Kodak moment if you ever saw one. All three were completely drunk on the milky stuff.

Bakura was in the midst of deciding whether or not he could fly and staring at the edge of the roof and Mariku had decided that Yami's head would make a really comfy place to take a nap.

Yami disagreed, and before the lights arrived had been trying to heave the much larger yami off his back and over the edge of the building. With no success, however, Mariku weighed a ton. Unfortunately, the incident led all three darks to be banned from eggnog this year and every year afterwords. Pity.

Jounouchi shifted slightly, taking note of the crackling sound coming from beneath him. Confused, the teen reached behind his back and grabbed the object, finding the now-slightly-crumpled remains of Shizuka's strange song.

With nothing better to do, Jounouchi let his hazel eyes skim the lyrics, every once in a while letting out a snort and a mumble that sounded much like "honestly" or "weird". Whoever came up with this song had some weird taste in gifts for their "true love". He would never buy any of these things for somebody he cared about.

Realization struck harder then a speeding eighteen wheeler.

While maybe not his true love…Jounouchi Katsuya would buy them for somebody he wanted to annoy…But somebody who wouldn't take it seriously, wouldn't be offended, wouldn't try and kill him, but would still get good and irritated. Also, probably someone he wasn't that close to, so they wouldn't guess it was from him.

An evil smirk uncharacteristically made its way across Jounouchi's face as he slowly sat up, a plot bunny ravaging his mind. Ah…, it was perfect.

Yami no Bakura, be prepared for the weirdest before-Christmas-week ever.

Bakura, at the moment, was peering over Ryou's shoulder at what his hikari called 'lunch'; though it seemed to resemble, as Bakura has so kindly put it, "something a cat choked up."

For probably the millionth time that minute, the white-headed yami sneered at the frying pan of oozing-green-goodness with a sick expression.

Ryou, again, for probably the millionth time, caught the look and with a sigh repeated, "Yami, please don't do that."

"But, hikari, you can't honestly expect me to believe that what you're torturing in that pan is edible." His lip curled in distaste, "Hell, it's practically inhumane."

"Bakura! You've got to trust me, I've been making it for the past three years this week and every single one of those years you've eaten it and said it was the greatest thing you've ever tasted."

"Yeah, but that's only because I've never seen you actually _make_ it."

Ryou grumbled, but otherwise ignored the yami as he roughly prodded his cooking with a metal spatula.

"Aw, don't do that, hikari! You'll hurt it's feelings." Bakura whined in mock-empathy for the sizzling green food.

"That's it, Bakura! Out! Get out of the kitchen, now!" Ryou waved his spatula around ever-so-threateningly to emphasize his point. "I'm sick of your complaining! Bah, I can't believe I'm saying this but, why don't you go wreak some havoc with Mariku for a while, neh? And leave me in peace?"

Bakura simply shrugged and sauntered out of the room without a backwards glance at his hikari, though Ryou could have sworn he heard something along the lines of "abusive" and "green glob rights". The light rolled his brown eyes and went back to what he was doing. He wasn't sure how much more of this he could take.

Bakura, not having anything better to do, decided to go outside. "I'm leaving!" He announced and was about to walk out of the apartment until Ryou called out, "Don't forget a coat!"

Bakura's hand automatically shot out to snag a random coat hanging by the door before closing it behind him, but otherwise gave no indication that he'd heard Ryou speak, his expression, even, was neutral.

It was only as the white-haired dark was already on a bus headed for the downtown Domino area that he realized what he was wearing.

"Damnit! This is Ryou's homo-jacket." Bakura's dark eyes bore angry holes at the cute design embroidered into the happy light blue fabric. Deciding it was too much effort to turn around to retrieve his own sexy black jacket, Bakura (with a few grumbles and many glares) reluctantly donned the snowflake-patterned coat.

Stepping out onto the snow-and-ice-covered streets of downtown Domino, Bakura learned first hand that it was wise not to be hasty. As soon as his foot connected with the slick sidewalk, the former spirit felt himself pitch foreword. He gritted his teeth in surprise and flailed his arms, and only by desperately clinging to a light post did he manage to keep himself upright.

A few kids, passing by with their parents, giggled at him. Bakura glared right back at them, putting as much malice as possible into the gaze. Stupid kids, stupid ice, stupid post, stupid jacket, stupid-"Ryou-kun?" What? No, that wasn't right…

"Ryou-kun, what are you doing?" A voice asked curiously from behind him.

Bakura released his death-hold on the light post and spun around abruptly…perhaps too abruptly for ice-covered sidewalks. The white-haired spirit had perhaps a millisecond to spy a poofy batch of blonde hair before once more pitching foreword. Fortunately, he didn't develop an intimate relationship with the ice; unfortunately, the former spirit was practically glomping a confused Jounouchi. "Eh? Ryou-kun?" Jounouchi and the others had started treating Ryou's first name as his last, to the embarrassment of the hikari, and calling Yami no Bakura by Ryou's original last name, to avoid confusion between the now-separate two.

"No, it's me, stupid." Bakura growled, trying to push himself away from the other teen, but only succeeded in slipping again, backwards this time. Jounouchi managed to snag Bakura's arm before he fell and helped pull the disgruntled dark to an upright position at the same time subtly leading the greenhorn ice-walker to solid, non-slippery ground.

"Heh, Bakura! What are you doing out and about?" Jounouchi said with a knowing smile.

Bakura snorted in reply, raising a brow at the blonde's queer expression, "Well, I don't know about you, but I believe that there is an _actual_ **world** beyond my front door!" His voiced was laced with sarcasm.

Jounouchi took the dripping comment in stride. "Why exactly are you wearing Ryou's jacket?" He blurted, snickering.

"Aw, how cute. Finally getting into the spirit of the season are we?" Jounouchi had to bite his tongue to keep the giggles from escalating into full-out laughter at the murder-you look on the dark's face as he stood there in the cutsie coat. A walking oxymoron.

"Watch yourself, make inu." Bakura hissed dangerously.

Jou growled softly at the name, though he really didn't find Bakura threatening at the moment, especially because of what the blonde was plotting, but in most part due to Ryou's choice of clothing adorning his opposite dark half.

A chill breeze snuck through the streets, ruffling everything in sight. Bakura grumbled and tried to keep his head from taking on a pine-tree-esqe appearance. Jounouchi didn't bother noticing the wind, at least, not until it stole something from him. "Ah! No!" The blonde yelped. The crumpled piece of paper (e.e hee) fluttered out of the blonde's hand in (what appeared to be) a teasing manner.

Bakura, of course, noticed this, and watched with interest as Jounouchi sprinted out over the slick sidewalks after his paper, slipping on the ice in the process, the elusive sheet of paper landing nearby, stuck against the next light post's base.

Curiosity sparked, Bakura quickly walked over to where the paper lay (avoiding the ice with caution). Squatting, he snatched it right before Jounouchi could and had a brief moment to glance over the paper before its owner snatched it back, not noticing that Bakura had had no inclination to release his hold, thus effectively ripping the sheet.

Looking through his raised hands where the paper had once been, the dark one cocked an eyebrow at Jounouchi, who, even though he'd regained his precious treasure, was still sprawled out across the busy sidewalk, people jumping over him or stepping on him as they attempted to get by.

"Was that really necessary?" Bakura drawled as he stood, a cocky smirk taking up a familiar residence across his features, "You could have just asked for it back, you know, and it wouldn't have ripped."

Jounouchi snorted and stood after Bakura, dusting himself off. "Hmph, whatever, I doubt you would have given it back on request." He smiled his sweetest smile at the white-haired thief and said in an equally sweet (and terrifying) voice, "And besides, there may be something on here that your little eyes shouldn't see." And with that the blonde about faced and was gone.

Bakura blinked after him. How'd he do that? Even he couldn't just vanish into a crow-Meh, whatevs.

About to toss the pieces of the paper he still held to the ground, Jounouchi's scary words came back to haunt him, and drew his gaze to the scraps. Bits of red and green ink stained the otherwise white paper, and bits and pieces of words as well.

"What the hell?" Bakura mused, somehow folding into the flow of the crowd while he stared at the scraps. It looked innocent enough, why shouldn't he be able to see it? Did the mutt really think that he, Bakura couldn't stomach something? How gruesome was it? Was it gruesome at all? Grr. Bakura stuck the pieces in his pocket. Something was going on, and he was going to find out what.

Jounouchi sighed in relief as he looked over what he'd managed to steal back from Bakura. Fortunately, the pieces the thief still possessed revealed nothing too specific. His secret plot was still in motion. Now, down to what he'd come here for. Jounouchi looked up at the large-lettered sign of a local Wal-Mart. It was time to shop.

The blonde glanced down at his 'list' for the fifteenth time before getting the attention of a worker. "Oi! Miss!"

The blue-vested brunette turned to him with a cheesy smile and asked, "Yes? How may I help you?"

Jounouchi smiled warily before once more checking his list, "Uh, yeah, do you know where I could find…" He picked a random verse, "Nine dancing ladies?" Jounouchi smiled hopefully as the worker's face darkened. He grimaced and tried another item on the list, though the woman's expression made him a bit nervous, "Uh, er, w-well how about e-eight m-milky maids then?" When the woman took on Bakura's murder-you expression, Jounouchi quickly realized his mistake and tried to explain himself, though the woman wouldn't have it. "Pervert!" She cried, punching him in the shoulder and stalking off muttering, "The nerve of some people…"

Jounouchi glared after her. "Jeez. It was an innocent enough mistake…" He grumbled and turned the opposite way to once more refer to his 'list', rubbing his sore shoulder. The girl had an arm…Fine then, he'd find what he needed on his own.

…And yet…

After helplessly wandering up and down the isles for what seemed like hours, Jounouchi had no choice but to once more search out help from the Wal-Mart staff. Jounouchi waved down an older man and once more endured the customary, "Yes? How may I help you?" The blonde asked politely, "Yes, could you tell me where to find a partridge in a pear tree?" The man gave him a boy-you-are-one-crazy-cookie stare, but before he could answer a voice called, "Jounouchi-kun!"

Turning, Jounouchi broke out into a smile as short-stature friend bounded into view, his yami close behind. "Yuugi-chan!" He echoed, suprised. The older man took this time to sneak away. "Yuugi-chan, Yami-kun!" Jounouchi greeted, waving his list about unessesarily to flag down his friends, "What are you guys doing here?"

Yuugi rolled his violet eyes, casting a sidelong glance at Yami, who apparently found the tile fascinating. "Yami here decided to make a cup of hot chocolate." Jounouchi's eyebrows raised in question, so Yuugi decided to elaborate, "He used the entire can on one cup."

Yami decided this was a good time to try and defend himself. "Hey now! Nobody ever told me how much to put in."

Yuugi now turned to face his darker half with a light-hearted you're-kidding-me expression on his face, "You'd think after it started spilling over the rim you'd put enough powder in."

"You said it dissolved!"

"Not entirely!"

"Then how is it a liquid if it's a solid before and never fully dissolves?"

"It's a very thick liquid."

"So thick it's half-solid, right?"

"No!"

Jounouchi watched the argument for a moment, then seemed to notice his old man had run off. "Hey!" The blonde yelped, interrupting the two bickering halves. "Damnit! He never helped me find it!"

Yuugi blinked, "What was that, Jou?"

Jounouchi ran a hand through his hair, "The salesmen. He ran off before I could find what it was that I was looking for."

Yuugi cocked his head to the side, "What are you looking for Jounouchi-kun?"

"Well, um…" Jounouchi wasn't sure he should tell them. Though…Yuugi was his best friend… But Yami and Bakura talked to each other more now, and Yami might let the other dark in on the secret- "Hey!" The blonde yelped as his list was firmly plucked from his hand, though, unlike before, was not harmed in anyway.

"Yami-kun!" Yuugi chided.

The taller dark paid his light no mind as he read over the 'list'. "Jounouchi-kun…" he spoke slowly, as if speaking to a child, "You do realize this is the lyrics to the Twelve Days of Christmas, don't you?"

Jounouchi snorted and grabbed his list back, saying, "Yes, I do, thank you."

Yuugi frowned, confused, "What are you doing here again?"

Jounouchi sighed, "Shopping."

Yami opened his mouth, probably to repeat himself, but Jounouchi beat him to it, "I'm going to buy all the things in this song for Bakura."

There was a pause, and Yuugi started to giggle. Yami smiled and quirked an eyebrow. Jounouchi gave them both odd looks, "What?"

Yuugi was finding it difficult to speak, and Yami just shook his head, "Never mind Jounouchi." He put an arm on Jounouchi's shoulder and took back the list, his crimson eyes looking it up and down once again, "Though, just curious…where do you plan on finding ten lords a' leaping?"

Bakura pushed back through Ryou's apartment, throwing the 'coat' off to the side somewhere.

"Get to where you were going okay?" Ryou asked from the living room, where he was watching T.V.

Bakura grunted and flopped down on the couch, never mind he was crushing his hikari's feet by doing so.

Ryou, with a little wiggling, freed his feet and sat up, "What up with you?"

"People are aspiring against me."

Ryou gave Bakura an awkward stare, "…You're not just noticing this, I hope?"

"Not what I mean. I mean the Yuugi-tatchi…they're plotting against me, I know it."

"Don't be silly, they are not. It's still separation week after all, how would they plot against you when you haven't spoken to them or they to each other?" Ryou blinked, "Unless…did you meet any of them while you were out?"

Bakura simply grunted again, deciding that that response would explain everything.

Apparently, to Ryou, it did. "Oh….Who?"

"The mutt."

"Stop it, Bakura-kun, that's not nice."

"Who the hell said I was nice? I'll gut 'em for saying that…."

"That's not the point."

"Whatever." And with that Bakura stood and left, wandering into the kitchen. After a moment and the sound of the fridge opening Bakura called, "Oi, hikari, do we have anything to eat that's not trying to escape?"

Ryou growled.

**End Part 1**


	2. Year One: Part 2

**CPOP's One-Shot Winter Tradition**

**Year One:** The Five Spastic Days of Christmas; A Spazzerific two-shot

**Summary:** When Jou looks over some very familiar carol lyrics, he takes things a bit too literally. What trouble will this cause for Yami no Bakura? All that and a partridge in a pear tree.  
**Ship/Pairing:** Spazzshipping/Yami no Bakura **x** Jounouchi Katsuya  
**Rating:** PG-13 K+  
**Extra:** Yes, I decided to make it two parts after all. You would too after 15 pages worth. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the conclusion of the Five Spastic Days of Christmas!  
**Disclaimer: **Homigosh! I actually put one of these up! –gasp- -pelted with stuff- But that's what you get when you don't mention the obvious: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! I wish I did, I really, really do, but, I don't. And be glad, be very glad…

**

* * *

**

**Year One: Part 2**

Jounouchi grinned and clapped Yami on the back as they walked along, "Thanks for deciding to help out, I'd have never been able to pull all this off on my own."

Yami smiled back, "No problem Jounouchi-kun, glad to help. I can't wait to see the look on the tomb robber's-"

"You don't think he'll hurt 'em, do you?" Yuugi interrupted worriedly as he pet a fat chicken on the head.

Jounouchi answered, "I don't think so…he's calmed down in the past few years."

Yami shrugged, "He hasn't been on the news recently, anyway. Oh, and aibou, I'm afraid you're going to have to leave the bird here."

Yuugi looked unconvinced, but let the chicken go anyway.

Yami looked back at Jounouchi, "There's something I was wondering though. If today's the 20th, that means there's only five days until Christmas, not twelve."

Jounouchi shrugged it off, "No biggie. I'll just drop off the last seven." He grinned, "Besides, I don't know where to find twelve drummers drumming, do you?"

Yami put a hand on his chin thoughtfully, "Acctually…"

The blonde eyed his friend dubiously, brows raised, Yami just shrugged, but was once more silent.

Jounouchi slipped back into thought, "Though, It would be more fun if we had all twelve of the gifts…"

"Perhaps we should double-up?" Yami ventured.

"Yeah!" Yuugi agreed, "We could give him two each day instead of one!"

"But I still don't know where we'd find-"

"Like I was saying, don't worry about it." Yami cut in with a mischievous look and matching grin. Jounouchi let it drop and Yami continued, "But still, that means we'd have ten gifts, two for each day. We're missing two."

Jounouchi shrugged, "This type of thing normally works itself out."

Yami blinked, "Wha-No it doesn't…"

Jounouchi just grinned, giving the dark a thumbs-up, "Hey, no worries, remember?"

Yami just rolled his crimson eyes skyward in an exasperated manner.

Yuugi piped up once more, "Are we gonna tell Ryou-kun? I think he should know if we're about to fill his house with poultry…"

Both Yami and Jou thought on this a moment, and a moment later shook their heads simultaneously.

Yuugi's violet eyes found his sneakers, so Yami put a hand on his shoulder comfortingly, "Besides, we all know Ryou-chan can't keep a secret…" He paused, "Though…now I feel a bit guilty as well…" Yami cast Jounouchi a look, to get his feelings on the matter, though, it seemed the guilt trip had passed for the blonde, as he was happily walking along.

Yami cleared his throat softly, keeping his looks strong.

It got Jounouchi's attention and a slightly confused hazel gaze met the firm crimson one. You could almost see realization hit, "Oh! Oh, I'm sure he'll be fine, Yuugi-chan, after all, he deals with Bakura-kun on a daily basis. A few birds shouldn't be anything surprising."

Yuugi seemed to cheer up after Jounouchi's comment, however, for as they neared the Kame Game Shop he questioned, "So…where are we going to find the colly birds? That farmer only raised birds that were used for food, and I don't think you can eat blackbirds…"

Yami cocked a brow, "Blackbirds, aibou?"

Yuugi nodded, "Yeah, ya know, in the song it says 'four colly birds'. Colly means black, it's some sort of English term or something." He shrugged.

Yami shook his head, "No, no, I think the song said 'calling'. So it could be any type of noisy bird."

Yugi frowned, "I'm pretty sure it said 'colly'."

"Calling, Yuugi-chan. It said '_Calling_'."

"No. It _didn't_. It _said_ '**colly**'."

"Calling."

"Colly."

"Calling!"

"Colly!"

"Calling!"

"COLLY!!"

"CALL-"

"ALRIGHT ALREADY!" Jounouchi shouted, whipping his head around to look over his shoulder at the bickering halves. Both stopped, blinked, and listened.

Jounouchi sighed, "I don't know what to tell ya, Shizuka has it Calling slash Colly." He cast a queer look at Yuugi, "Besides…aren't blackbirds…ya know…a bit, well…_ominous_ for Christmas?"

Yuugi shrugged, "Hey, it's Bakura-kun we're talking about here."

Jounouchi gave Yami a look and together they uttered, "Right."

Yami sighed, "Fine, I'm sure he'll appreciate a pair of flesh-craving ravens better than a pair of parrots anyway."

Jounouchi snickered at the wording and then held the door to the warm shop open for his friends. It was time to put their plan in motion.

**Day 1** Operation: Partridgepear, Hen, Collycallers.

Bakura woke the next morning to some crashing and girly screeches. _Great, Ryou's up. Maybe he'll make breakfast._ With that thought he was about to drift off back to sleep, until a particular green goopy thought bubbled up. _Unless that green crap's on the move again, then he might not survive long enough to make anything edible_. Another shriek confirmed his thoughts. That was most definitely it. Ryou was being attacked by an entrée.

Bakura forced himself up and out with a resigning sigh, deciding that he might as well save his clueless hikari. After all, he wouldn't be able to sleep knowing that the murdering goop was on the loose.

However, the white-haired thief did not expect to swing open the kitchen door and come face-to-face with a rather fat, disgruntled looking bird. Blinking, he searched around the mess and found his hikari wrestling a few chickens to the ground. Up in the corner he noticed a couple of crows eyeing him. Bakura hissed at them and shoved the fat bird out of the way, never mind that it was helplessly tied down to a branch of some weird fruit tree, and thus unable to save itself as it was bowled over.

"Hikari…what in Ra's name are you _doing_??" Bakura questioned, cocking an eyebrow, hands on his hips.

Ryou gave Bakura a pleading look, "Baku-" He was interrupted as one of the chickens nearly took his face off trying to escape, "Help!" He choked out, spitting out a few feathers.

Bakura sighed once more, only this time it came out more like a growl and walked over to his struggling light, kicking a loose chicken as he did so.

After about another fifteen minutes, the three chickens, hens as they were, were rounded up, the fat bird, a part-ridge or something, was untied and housed properly, and the four ravens had taken up lodging around Bakura, for some reason refusing to leave his side, which creeped Ryou out immensely, especially considering every time he got within three feet of his dark, they'd caw and stare menacingly at him, and, of course, this amused Bakura just as much as it terrified Ryou and sent him fleeing from the vicinity. (Now if that wasn't the longest run-on sentence you've ever seen…)

…But Ryou never did make him breakfast. Stupid hikari.

Fast-forward to later that same evening, the scene is thus: Ryou and Bakura were in the smallish living room, Bakura taking up as much space as possible on the couch, lazily flipping through channels, the four ravens perched about him, and poor Ryou huddled up on a chair as far away from the birds as possible.

"B-Bakura? Don't you think…we should let them go?"

The former spirit shrugged, not bothering to glance away, though the ravens had all cocked their heads in Ryou's direction with evil stares, "Why bother. They wont leave."

Ryou quirked a brow at his dark, avoiding the raven's yellow eyes, "You've tried?"

"No."

The light sighed and let himself leak out of the chair to stand and stare exasperatedly at his dark with his arms crossed, "Then how do you know? They look wild enough to me."

Bakura just shrugged, "While your up, get me a sandwich, I'm starving."

"You know you don't need to eat, and if you want to you certainly don't need me to get you anything. You just do it as a way of torturing me, don't you?"

Bakura grinned and glanced up, "Maybe."

Ryou rolled his eyes, but nonetheless made his way to the kitchen.

**Day 2** Operation: Swanage, Geeses, and Doves.

Next morning bore fruits of equal, if not more, poultry-related madness.

Bakura watched, highly amused, as his light scrambled about trying to round up a hoard of not-so-graceful swans and geese, not to mention the chickens and partridge from before had escaped. He raised a brow as Ryou managed to secure the birds, looking highly frazzled and worn.

"If it's such a drain, why bring all the birds into the house?"

Ryou tried his best to glare, but failed, "I'm not the one whose bringing them here! Why on earth would I do that!? I assumed it was you."

"Nope." Bakura eyed the situation, _Though, whosever doing this certainly has skill…though, I'm afraid style is lacking. Birds get boring after a day. It should be interesting to see what they whip up tomorrow for my poor light._

_…I wonder who's behind all this..._

Back at the Kame Game Shop, the trio of troublemakers were going over their plan.

"Why didn't we do it the smart way?" A very tired-looking Yami questioned, his head held up by his plam.

"Because Jounouchi's the one in charge." An equally tired-looking Yuugi retorted.

Both halves sent glares in the direction of a wary, though not at all weary, blonde. Jounouchi smiled nervously, "Hey! You guys agreed to watch the farm birds while I got the other ones."

"Yeah but you were _supposed_ to get rid of them the same night! You never came back! And now the birds are all out of order…" Yami grouched. "It's not fun dealing with Geese and Chickens and Ra knows what else when you're trying to sleep…"

"You did get the doves today, didn't you?" Yuugi questioned.

Jounouchi huffed proudly, "Of course! I even managed to get them in there with the gooses and the swans."

Yuugi sighed and fell back on the couch, "They're even more out of order than I thought."

Yami groaned and followed suit, collapsing over the back of the armchair Jounouchi was sitting in, "It's no use, our plan failed."

Jounouchi gave them an incredulous look, "You're kidding me, and you two never give up on anything!" When neither responded, he took a different approach, "No worries, this is only the beginning!"

Yami and Yuugi felt like crying.

**Day 3**: Operation: Music and Improv.

Bakura had been expecting something weird when he woke up, but certainly not this.

A parade had invaded his living room.

A bunch of strange men were lounging about, playing their respective instruments (drums and flutes) as loudly as possible, all of them obviously having no clue as to how to make the noise sound anything remotely resembling music.

Those that had no instruments bounded around the room like no tomorrow. Ryou was frantically running around trying to get them all to quiet down and sit down whilst fighting off Bakura's four ravens, but to no avail.

Bakura went into silent hysterics and then (after maneuvering through a sea of fowl in the kitchen for some toast) went back to bed.

At the Kame Game Shop Jounouchi Yami and Yuugi were back to plotting.

"Guys, I don't think it's working. I saw Bakura today and he looked fine, like nothing happened." Yuugi said.

Yami case Jounouchi a sidelong look, "Are you sure you've got the right apartment?"

Jounouchi snorted, "Give me a bit more credit then that."

Yami retorted with a flat look and, "I would if you deserved-"

"Hey! We have another problem, too." Yuugi cut in, "Apparently Jounouchi's been decking out the 'gifts' by threes instead of twos. We're going to be short a day."

Jounouchi shrugged, "Like I said, give me a bit more credit."

Both gave him doubtful looks. "What do you have in mind, Jounouchi?" Yami questioned.

"Nothing really….Well, except for the fact I took into consideration Yuugi always throws some kinda party on Christmas. I figured it would be a good time to evaluate the outcome of our mission."

You could almost see the dot dot dot.

"You've given this a lot of thought…haven't you?" Yuugi asked, brow raised.

Jounouchi just grinned, "Well, I want it to be good."

**Day 4:** Operation: Maids and Dancers.

Ryou wasn't going to make it. Bakura grinned, there was no way. Not only was the kitchen a stewing pot for bird poop and feathers, but the 'musicians' had yet to stop 'playing' or the leapers to stop leaping. Oh, and today they'd had the 'lovely' surprise of some drag queens wiggling around the apartment and to top it off, there was now a baby cow running around with a little girl atop it, accompanying them were seven French maid outfits and seven bottles of milk. What this was implying Bakura could only guess, but it was sure as hell interesting.

However, as was said, poor Ryou wasn't taking it so well.

Props to whoever came up with this madness. Bakura didn't know, all the tags and cards that had been left with the 'gifts' simply said 'Your true love.' It seemed a bit cynical to him, after all, if you loved someone why put them through hell to show it? His hikari had some strange admirers. But seriously, if the cross dressers didn't get the hell out of the bathroom sometime in the next century, there were going to be corpses decking the halls.

**Day 5: **The Party

Yuugi dragged himself around the shop, setting things out for the party, taking precaution not to move too fast. It can be dangerous going over -10mph, you know.

"Aibou, you're going to start moving backwards if you go any slower." Yami chided. While he looked to be in a bit better shape than his light half, it was still obvious he was worn out.

Yuugi yawned and shook his head before answering, "I know, but, all this stuff with Bakura-kun's got me pooped." He set down the chair he'd been moving and flopped down into it.

Yami just smiled in acknowledgement, and went to finish getting things ready.

When most everyone had arrived, Yuugi and Yami were left looking for two heads: One blonde, one white. But could find neither. Both looked at each other worriedly. What was taking them? Perhaps Bakura had found out it was Jounouchi's idea and murdered him on the way? They could only imagine.

But, alas, no sooner had they finished their thoughts then the door burst open, revealing two snow-white heads. Bakura and Ryou entered, one significantly more confident and awake than the other.

Yuugi and Yami blanched as they saw the two. Apparently their plan had backfired. Ryou looked about ready to drop, and Bakura looked like he was having the time of his life. Yuugi went over to console the other tired-looking light, leaving Yami to handle Bakura.

"You look like you've seen better days, Pharaoh." Bakura teased, smirking.

Yami just snorted and crossed his arms, "And you look like you've just finished castrating a squirrel. What'd you do?"

Bakura mocked hurt, "Aw, can't I be happy without you chiding me? Well, fine, If you must know some genius has been giving the most ridiculous gifts to Ryou, and it's been absolutely hilarious, to say the least, not that you'd care."

"Wait, Ryou? What makes you think the gifts were for him?"

Bakura gave the other former spirit a 'you're-kidding' look, "Please, I seriously doubt that I fit the description on the cards."

At this Yami looked interested. He hadn't seen any 'cards', so he assumed it was Jounouchi's doing, "Well, what did the cards say, then?"

Bakura snorted softly, and actually hesitated a moment before reaching into his pocket and withdrawing a tag. He tossed it carelessly at Yami, "See for yourself."

Yami's crimson eyes scanned the card, and he couldn't fight back a smile. It brought to mind a similar thought he'd had at the start of this whole ordeal and had never voiced. After all, surely Bakura was nobody's 'true love'.

Jounouchi turned up at the party late and panting, like he'd been running. His hazel eyes scanned the room, through the familiar heads of all his friends, until they locked onto a pair of crimson ones. For some reason, Yami, despite being tired, was wearing his all-knowing expression. Jounouchi cocked an eyebrow in his direction, but the former spirit had turned away with a grin.

Weird.

Anyway, he had other people to find. Stuffing a small envelope hurriedly into his pocket Jou made his rounds, greeting friends and chatting it up.

When he ran into Ryou and Yuugi, he sincerely apologized. But for some reason appeared rather crestfallen. So it all had really backfired then…what a waste of a good opportunity to-…wait! Jounouchi frantically searched his pockets, sighing in relief when the small envelope met his fingers.

His relief was short-lived, however, as the envelope was snatched away.

"Hey! Give that back!" Jou whirled around to face the envelope thief, but faltered slightly at whom it was who'd snatched it.

Bakura looked over the small package, then looked up at Jounouchi, "A little bird told me you had something to do with turning my apartment into a zoo."

Jounouchi immediately glared at Yuugi, who'd told Ryou, who'd accidentally let it slip to Bakura through their mind-link. Jou regained his composure quickly, however, and retorted, "Maybe I did, maybe I didn't. You really can't trust birds as far as you can kick 'em."

"Which happens to be quite far, actually."

Jounouchi blanched, was he wrong about Bakura changing? Jeez, how was he supposed to tell the farmers and families of the people he'd paid that the receiver of these temporary gifts had slaughtered them all? This wasn't good.

At Jou's worried expression Bakura felt it necessary to add, "Kidding."

Jounouchi sighed and Bakura gave him a 'just-who-do-you-think-I-am' look. The blonde smiled and shrugged, then held out his hand expectantly.

The white-haired thief just grinned and held up the envelope, "What, this? Why should I give it back? It's for me."

Jounouchi's blood dropped a few degrees, "…Wha-, er, H-How do you know that?"

Bakura flipped the envelope around easily, his other arm remaining crossed, "It has my name on it, you dolt." And sure enough, in Jounouchi's chicken-scratch penmanship, there was a hastily written 'Bakura'.

"So what exactly was it that you were planning on giving me? Let's find out."

"No, wait!" Jounouchi tried to grab the envelope back, and he would have, had he been dealing with someone of Bakura's exact stature, after all, he was taller and stronger, however, Bakura was slippery in the way that he managed to duck away and move far enough to the side so that by the time the larger blonde had fallen over and stood once again, the envelope was opened, it's contents resting in the thief's palm.

Jounouchi, who'd been reaching out, stopped mid-grab as Bakura looked back at him, confusion written out over his face, "You robbed a jewelry store?"

Jounouchi put his arm down and stood, defeated, behind Bakura, "No…"

Bakura turned back to the rings in his hand, looking at them closer, "What's this supposed to mean, anyway?" Each of the five rings had something scrawled into it, engraved in silver. It looked like: For day true one Bakura.

Silently, Jounouchi came up behind the slimmer teen and, reaching around him, slowly flipped the rings around so that it read: One for each day, Bakura. Jounouchi turned the rings around again, revealing more text on the other sides of the bands. It said:

I'm your true love. Jou.

**End Year One**

* * *

**A/N:** Agh! I hate the ending! But then again, I'm writing it at 1 in the morning with no thoughts of looking it over or revising/editing until later today. Much later. As in, a time when people actually wake up and move around. But, yeah, I hope you enjoy what's here! Don't forget to read and review! See you next year! 


	3. Year Two

**A CPOP Winter One-Shot Tradition**

**Year Two**: Winter's Blush; a banana-riffic snidget!

**Summary:** Bananashipping! …The first one on , if I'm not mistaken…o.O;;…awkward…Anyway! Malik doesn't like snow…at all. Neither does Honda.

**Ship/Pairing**: Bananashipping /Malik Ishtar x Hiroto Honda  
**Rating:** PG/K  
**Extra**: OMG, this is almost four months late! TT I'm so sorry! Please forgive! –grovels to readers-  
**Disclaimer**: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ….if I did, _you'd know _the monkies would eat my soul.

* * *

"Eugh! It touched me!"

"…You're such a wimp."

Malik sniffed indignantly, flicking the snow off his sleeve where the trees had decided to drop it. "Hmph, I am no such thing, Honda-kun."

Honda raised his eyebrows in mock surprise and smirked deviously, "Wasn't it you, Malik-_chan_ who screamed like a school girl when Jou jumped out at us last week by that alley?"

"No…It was a very manly yell…"

"Riight…And wasn't it _you_ we had to coax from the pizza place after the mascot came out on the unicycle?"

"…It was a killer, Honda-kun….A killer alien…"

"Mmhmm…And _wasn't_ _it_ you who-"

"Okay! _Fine_! I give in." Malik frowned and crossed his arms as best he could in the over-sized parka he was wearing.

Honda smirked triumphantly and elbowed his friend playfully in the side. Malik pretended not to notice, and instead came back like a Weebles.1, unaffected.

"Oh, Malik-kun, come on, I was just playing." The Egyptian still ignored him, drawing his chocolate parka closer, so that the ivory fir around the hood blocked most of his face from veiw.

Honda sighed and pulled his own blue jacket tighter around him. Malik-kun could be so touchy sometimes!

Both boys were headed over to the Kame Game Shop for Yuugi's annual Not-Quite-Christmas party. The name fit, Christmas was still three days away, counting Christmas Eve. It was a cute little tradition Yuugi and Jounouchi and come up with, and slowly it'd spread to the rest of the group. This was Malik's first time going, as he'd only just recently returned from Egypt.

He didn't like snow. Honda didn't care for it either, really, but unlike the blonde Egyptian he'd taken such a liking too, at least the brunette put up with it, silently weaving his irritation away, reminding himself that spring would come and carry the white menace away.

But Malik wouldn't stop complaining. Every time the dark-skinned teen so much as glanced out the window at the white, slushy world outside it was 'They don't have stupid snow in Egypt, thank the gods…' or 'Good gods, how long is this going to last!?' or sometimes 'this infernal menace had better be gone by tomorrow or I'm going to rip something small and furry into tiny bloody shreds!" Though Honda was fairly sure that last one had been said by Mariku, it still fit Malik's attitude pretty well.

Honda, frankly, was getting really sick of it; and because Malik had decided to room with him while looking for a place of his own, Honda had to listen to it day in and day out.

He prayed for spring.

Honda prodded Malik with his gloved hand.

Nothing. He poked harder.

A muffled grunt.

Honda's brow furrowed, he hadn't said anything really offensive, anyway! What was his problem? When after a few more pokes all he received in reply was silence, Honda stood in front of the shorter boy, hands on Malik's shoulders. "Hey, what's your problem, huh? I'm sorry; I didn't mean to upset you! Ugh! Your being so…" Honda trailed off at Malik's expression. The blonde teen looked about ready to bust his guts from holding in his laughter. Honda gave his now former-friend a flat expression and shoved him into a snow bank by someone's stoop, ignoring the horrified shrieks from the Egyptian as the brunette walked off, a smug look on his face.

Silence. Honda stopped walking and turned around. He didn't kill him, did he? It would be really hard to testify 'death by snow bank' at a trial. As he turned Honda had a split second to see Malik's glittering lavender eyes before a snowball plowed into his face.

"Payback!" Came Malik's happy yelp.

A battle cry eh?

Now it was Honda's turn to shriek. The tall brunette hopped around, shaking the freezing snow from his hood while Malik whooped, nearly in tears as he leaned against a wreathed light post for support, the snow from his snow bank encounter melting, unnoticed, in his light hair.

"You…should have…seen…your face!" Malik gasped, pointing at his distressed friend with his purple glove, wiping his eyes with the other. However, at Honda's not-so-menacing glare, Malik bit his tongue playfully, grinning, a cattish look coming to his eye.

This was war.

Let the snowballs fly.

Malik quickly ran to the other side of the snow banked stoop for cover, as Honda had begun launching his snow ball artillery. A freezing missile exploded against his back, though the powder fell harmlessly away from the slippery fabric. Oh. Oh no he didn't!

Malik wasn't going to let him get away with that.

Scooping up some snow fro the stoop's steps Malik quickly balled it into a hasty lumpy snowball and flung in blindly in Honda's direction. When a very grouchy, very deep man voice began yelling, Malik blushed. Turns out he'd hit a taxi. He crept out from the stoop to apologize to the man, but he'd already driven off. Oh no, the man had probably thought Honda-kun had thrown it! Oops!

Speaking of which, where was…Oh no…Malik had left his cover! He was out in the open!

But before the Egyptian could make it back to the stoop, he was struck down by three snowballs, one to the side, one to the shoulder (that got snow in his hood, damnit!) and one on his thigh (Jeans absorb snow very fast, he learned solemnly).

Malik yipped in surprised, and looked out from behind his defensively raised hands to see Honda-kun smiling victoriously, two more snowballs in hand. He raised (as best as he could in mittens) a finger, shaking it in a motherly fashion towards the now-wet Malik, "Tsk, you should know better than to challenge the master to a snowball fight, young grasshopper. You'll always loose." To emphasis his point, the brunette nodded sagely, crossing his arms.

Malik 'hmph'd and shook what melting snow he could from his hood, wincing as some slipped down inside the parka instead. After he finished, he crossed his arms defiantly and stared at Honda, "Heh, _always_, sensei? Let's see you win this, Honda-kun!"

The smaller teen ran foreword, not giving Honda any time to respond before they both toppled into the very same snow bank Malik had just visited earlier, a mess of arms and legs from Malik's pounce.

Both boys were dusted with the powder, Honda more so as he was pinned beneath Malik, and snow from the pile around him kept avalanching over him. In fact, a rather large cascade had just fallen in his face, stacking on top of his head like some freezing hat, a mini-me pile grouping on his nose. The brunette gave the slender boy above him a was-it-_really_-worth-it? stare, as Malik's jeans and hair were now soaked and snow clung around his parka hood, however, for once Malik paid no attention to his enemy and responded with a smile, cocking his head cutely to the side…and sending even more snow falling down on top of Honda as the snow dislodged itself from his parka on top of him.

Honda shook his head at tried to sit up, but Malik made no move to rise, making the whole standing process that much more difficult. Instead the taller teen was slouched oddly against the stoop, Malik in his lap.

Needless to say the pair were attracting quite a few stares.

"Umm…" Honda began, searching for the words, "What the hell are you doing? It's freezing and the snow is melting through my jeans and we're kind of being stared at and, and, and…" He trailed off, quirking an eyebrow at Malik, who simply stared down at him.

Honda stared back, waiting for Malik to say something.

Of course, he didn't. Instead his lavender eyes simply peered curiously down at him, snowflakes catching his his eyelashes as the skies opened up once more. A couple walked by, giving the boys a strange look, but continuing their conversation anyway.

"They say there's a huge blizzard coming in, going to hit really fast."

"Oh, look it's started snowing again!"

"There's going to be a lot more than that, we should hurry."

Honda, not having looked away from the oddly stationary Malik, who had not looked away from him, either, said quietly, "We should really move, I don't want to be caught in that, and Yuugi's-" His sentence was abruptly cut short as the Egyptian suddenly leaned down and kissed him, pressing him hard into the stoop with his gloved hands, though his lips were feather light against the brunette's.

Needless to say, Honda was more than a little surprised, and remained frozen even as Malik pulled away, smiling softly. "The snow is making you blush, Honda-kun…" He said softly, removing his glove and wiping away some melted snow from his friend's check, his fingers radiantly warm against Honda's frozen skin.

"Wh..Buh…Ma…" Honda struggled for words, but was at a loss.

Malik, finished tugging his glove back on slowly eased his way up, brushing himself off and looking up thoughtfully, suddenly not wanting to meet the eyes of his friend.

Honda pried himself off the ground as well, shivering as a strong gust of wind wooshed passed his damp clothes, bringing with it the stinging starts of a snowstorm. He walked over to the other teen and put a hand on his shoulder, a worried smile on his face. "It's just a little snow and wind, you don't have to cry about it."

Malik started, jerking away. "I'm not crying, you jerk!" And he wasn't, really.

Or, he thought he hadn't been, until Honda wiped away cold tears from his face with a warm, un-mittened hand.

Blushing furiously at such a womanly display Malik huffed and kept walking. He'd been so afraid, for that instant, that the kiss he'd given purely on impulse had been rejected that a few tears had escaped; of course, he just blamed it on the blasted wind drying his eyes out.

Honda followed behind for a moment, thinking it over.

After a moment of strained silence as Malik walked on ahead, the Egyptian felt a familiar presence come up to his side and put a hand on his arm lightly.

The slight touch stopped Malik in his tracks however, and he glanced over uncertainly out of the corner of his lavender eyes. What he saw didn't quench his fears, Honda looked so serious….

Malik looked away, not wanting to acknowledge the speech that was surely about to be given, as such he missed the brunette's movement until the taller teen's face was mere inches away from his own. Malik's blush had nothing to do with the fierce cold as Honda, keeping his eyes on Malik's the whole time, leaned in and gave the Egyptian a far more solid kiss than had been bestowed upon himself.

The shorter's surprise quickly melted into glee as he smiled and giggled into Honda's kiss. The brunette drew away, his features annoyed, but with a lightness he couldn't hide. "You do realize how difficult laughing makes kissing, right?" He asked, quirking a brow.

"I'm sorry." Malik said, though he showed no trace of remorse.

Honda shook his head and took a few steps foreword down the side walk, but waited for Malik to catch up before continuing.

Even as the storm intensified in the few blocks they had yet to walk to reach their tri-colored friend's home, neither noticed, so wrapped up in the strange, enlightening moment they'd just shared that even winter's greatest fury couldn't even stir complaint from Malik.

And for that Honda was wonderfully grateful.


	4. Year Three

**Year Three:** Nostalgia

**Summary:** Yami no Yuugi has a love/hate relationship with winter.  
**Ship/Pairing:** Implied Darkshipping (Yami no Bakura x Yami no Yuugi)  
**Rating:** PG (K)  
**Extra:** Ugh, I sadden myself with how late this is. As it's already spring, I decided to work that into the fic, because…well, who am I trying to kid, right? Nobody wants to read about winter in spring.

…And yet you're going to anyway. Mwaha.  
**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ….yet.

* * *

It had finally come. After months of whipping wind, blusterous snow and slick ice the world was starting to reveal a nicer side. The great bellows of wind that made the trees thrash were filled with hints of something warmer, the continuous drip of the icicles and the puddles on the sidewalks all pointed to a single cause: spring was near. And while the joy of being able to go outside without fear of frostbite, and in nothing but a sweater was indeed, joyous, there was a strange sadness.

And so it was that one transfixed spirit found himself staring cheerlessly down at a tuft of squishy brown grass. Around it the snow had turned to slush under the unusually bright glare of the hazy afternoon sun, and the snow that had once covered it was nothing more than a puddle, drowning the tuft. He nudged it with the equally hazy toe of his boot, frowning as it failed to do anything. For as long as Atem had been in this strange new world, he'd never been fond of winter. Sure he didn't bitch about it like the Tomb Robber every year, but that didn't mean he hadn't been equally as upset when the snow had first begun to fall.

"What...is that?" He'd choked out, staring out the window with a sick feeling. He'd been floating along behind Yuugi, as per normal, when he'd chanced a glance outside. Yuugi had come over, curious and slightly concerned for the tone in his friend's voice. Looking up and down, even craning his neck to try and see further down the street he'd seen nothing out of the ordinary. There wasn't anyone outside, but considering the light flurry taking place, it wasn't unusual.

Oh.

Yuugi laughed, "It's only snow."

Yami no Yuugi, as he'd been known at the time, had kept quiet, grunting in response, watching the flakes with rapt focus as they tumbled from the dark sky and were thrown about by the wind.

Yuugi had grinned, "Would you like to see?"

No, not really. His brain had thought, but before his mouth could repeat it he had found himself being drug back inside the puzzle. "Yuugi, wait!" He'd cried, just knowing what his lighter half was up to and wanting no part of it. He did not want to be out there with 'that' going on. In truth, he was frightened. He, the greatest Pharaoh of his time, terrified of some freaky weather, of some white fluff falling from the sky.

...He couldn't deny it.

'Okay, here you go!' Came the floaty, mental voice of Yuugi through his soul room a few minutes later. Of course Yuugi had blocked out all of his darker's complaints and threats, even one panicky admission of fright. So, of course when Yami no Yuugi started to protest again, he was simply ignored and thrust out of the puzzle and into Yuugi's body, his light quickly retreating to his own soul room.

The first thing that hit him, literally, was a blast of angry wind and snow. Before he could even open his eyes, or try to, the biting flecks of frozen water were stinging his cheeks and nose, attacking him! With a surprised cry the mighty pharaoh turned away from the wind and hid his face in his gloves, wiping away the now-melted snow. What the hell!? Yuugi, the little bastard, he must've known how horrible this stuff was, why would he want to submit him to this? Even with his eyes open and his back to the wind, Yami no Yuugi found he felt nothing but contempt for the snow. The biting cold seeped in through his jacket and his mighty crown of hair and the puff-ball hat crammed atop it couldn't keep the chill from his skull. Still, a new experience was a new experience, and he did chance a look around. The sight made him miserable. The sky was heavy and grey, like the buildings and cars, everything seemed bleak and rather desolate; frozen too, as Yami no Yuugi was sure he was the only one crazy enough to be outside.

But not for much longer. The frozen spirit turned back towards the game shop and practically sprinted back inside, flinging the door open and slamming it shut, sending the bell into a frenzy above his head. His whole body tingled and he found that when he scrunched up his nose in distaste it took a moment for the muscles to sink back down into place. Yuugi, who'd apparently been lurking around nearby in his mind questioned unnecessarily, 'So...what did you think?'

Atem touched the tips of his semi-transparent ears, remembering how red and sore they'd been, seeing as Yuugi, in his excitement, had forgotten to cover them (none of his hats could reach his ears through all his hair, you see). Of course he'd left Yuugi to deal with the effects of the cold on his body on his own, having chosen to sulk in his soul room with only the thought of Yami no Bakura suffering as he had to cheer him up.

No, his first experience with winter in Japan hadn't been a nice one, especially seeing as how that year the temperatures reached record lows. Later on, when the snow had set in to a good couple inches deep and the wind had silenced, he'd gone outside again...well, almost. Yuugi had gone outside and Yami no Yuugi had followed in spirit form. Watching as Yuugi chased down the fat, fluffy flakes that simply floated down from above and make angelic spiky-haired shapes on the sidewalk, Yami no Yuugi's hate was replaced with a grudging curiosity. While the flakes simply drifted through his nonreal form, he had still watched with interest as they disappeared through his hand.

When Yuugi's friends had come over later that day to do some snow-related activities in the backyard, like making a rather stout and proportionally-challenged man out of snow, Yami no Yuugi talked with Yami no Bakura.

The white-haired spirit had only appeared upon the rather domestic promise that he'd get to decide what the television showed that evening. Apparently he was sick of all of Ryou's 'womanly' programming choices. Yami no Bakura had joined Yami no Yuugi on the backdoor steps, where they 'sat' and watched the others from a distance.

"So, how is the thief liking the snow?" Yami no Yuugi had questioned with a grin, knowing full well by the disgusted expression on Yami no Bakura's face that snow was the equivalent of baby vomit in his eyes.

"It's ridiculous!" He'd said, putting his hatred of the snow before his dislike of the former pharaoh, "I can't see how having frozen water fall from the sky and smother everything is in anyway a positive contribution to this environment."

Yami no Yuugi hadn't thought about it like that, but now that Yami no Bakura had mentioned it, he couldn't see the point either. But Yami no Bakura wasn't finished yet, "Ryou says that it melts eventually, and some other shit about the weather I didn't really pay attention to. But he said it melts, so it's not permanent..."

There was doubt there; in his voice and Yami no Yuugi picked up on it. "You don't think it will melt?"

The former...current thief snorted, "Why should it? When ice is kept with ice it stays frozen, with all this snow and ice together it should keep itself frozen."

Yami no Yuugi thought for a moment, "But snow melts when it touches something warm, maybe something warm happens to melt it?"

Yami no Bakura turned and looked at the pharaoh incredulously, as if he were the stupidest thing alive, "And what are you expecting, Pharaoh? A giant heater to simply appear and melt everything? Or, even better, everyone in Japan to go outside and breathe on it?"

"Breathe on it?" Yami no Yuugi questioned.

Yami no Bakura made an annoyed sound, "Yes, breathe on it! Your breathe melts it, you know."

"Mmmm." Yami no Yuugi said by way of understanding.

There was a moment of silence, interrupted only by the sounds of the teenagers before them, now throwing the snow at each other, their snow-person now beheaded and forgotten.

"It's strange." Yami no Yuugi said, his ruby eyes skyward.

"No shit." said Yami no Bakura, leaning forward and putting his elbows on his knees to prop up his head.

A breathless Ryou ran over then and informed the spirits they were heading inside. Yami no Bakura disappeared into the ring and Yami no Yuugi took the opportunity to ask Yuugi, who'd come up behind Ryou, "What melts the snow?"

The sun. Atem smiled. The sun melts the snow. When it's behind all the clouds and so far away it can't warm anything, but when drawn in close allowed to shine... He knew this now, but back then it had been a surprising revelation, one he'd been more than happy to rub in Yami no Bakura's face later that evening, when the teens were watching a movie.

Somehow the daytime hang-out had turned into a sleepover, as everyone was sleeping when the credits rolled. Except for the two ancient persons.

Yami no Yuugi and Yami no Bakura were outside again, standing on the steps, their semi-transparent forms almost invisible in the dark. Both were looking up. The clouds were small, thin and moving quickly over the sky, illuminated by a large moon, tinted orange from the city. All in all: simply spectral against the darkness of the nighttime sky. It was eerily quiet for their proximity to the city, and equally still. Both pairs of bright eyes caught the far-away flashing of red and white, a plane, flying amongst the stars.

It had been a long, long moment for the two misplaced spirits, each seemingly lost in his own thoughts. This bit of time, this scenery...it was ethereal. Haunting. Not what either had expected of winter, seeing as how the day was so dingy and sad. Though they couldn't feel the cold, their only sense of touch a faint comfortable warmth, radiating from their hosts' bodies inside, they still felt a chill work its way through them. The light from the moon lanced off the snow, filling the night with an unnatural, natural brightness, making the skeletal trees naught but black silhouettes, scraping at the distant glittering stars.

So this was winter. Familiar, somehow.

"It's strange." stated Yami no Bakura. The pale spirit was practically aglow, his hair mirroring the snow, his eyes like the trees: dark, searching the stars. Personified winter.

"No shit..." muttered Yami no Yuugi, his ruby eyes transfixed on his fellow spirit. With the many colors to his mane of hair, the deep warmth to his eyes and the life of his skin, even as a misty figure, he seemed alien amongst such stark, contrasting things. He just didn't seem to belong.

Atem struggled to recall the details of that night, for they yearned to be remembered, as all beautiful and amazing things do, but found he couldn't. It had been a day of experience and a night of realization. While both he and Akefia were born in the land of the sun, it was only Atem who'd ever felt he belonged there. It was an awkward, curling feeling to sense he'd been there to witness Akefia finding his kinship, there amongst the bright lifelessness that was a winter night.

Recently Atem had found himself more and more accustomed to thinking of himself as summer and Akefia as winter. And as long as he was thinking along these lines he'd place Yuugi in spring and Ryou in fall. For spring brought summer, spring which was lively and new, summer that was long and warm, content and wild still. Fall came before winter, shedding the protective leaves of summer to expose the true nature of trees and bring forth a cooling wind as an entrance for winter, seemingly lifeless and cold, but beautiful and deadly and filled with a strange ethereal energy.

Okay, so it was a little crazy to be thinking of himself and the others in such a way, but Atem couldn't shake the feeling that it somehow fit.

And if that was the case, then this was the end of Yami no Bakura's, of Akefia's season, the end of his shining reign, fading away to allow for the buoyant and jovial season that was...

'Atem, are you going to sulk forever? You don't even like the snow.'

'But the spring is just so squishy and wet...'

'You don't like spring?'

'No, I like spring...'

'I'm sensing a 'but' here..'

'BUT, I have a newfound respect for winter, I suppose.'

'Oh....kay. Well when you're done paying your respects I'd like you to help with the cleaning.'

'How? I'm not tangible, remember?'

'...Don't be stupid, you share my body, remember? So if my body has to clean then you can at least be the one directing it for a while.'

'I suppose.'

'Good! Hurry up then, kay?'

Yuugi's presence faded out of his mind and Atem was left alone.

The scent on the wind was sweet, but Atem couldn't smell it. The icicles above his head dripped steadily, warmed by the sun. The snow seemed to be retreating, though grudgingly, from the earth. Oh spring, as warming and pretty as it was, with its arrival Atem found he could only think of winter, and so miss it yet again, as many winters had come and gone since that first one. Each and every year was different, different amounts of hostility from the winter storms, but always the same beautiful night, sometimes shrouded in clouds, other times fully illuminated by the sky. Always different but ever constant, there was nothing like spring and eventually summer to make you appreciate winter.

Of this, Atem was now familiar.


End file.
